one-armed bandit

noun

variants or less commonly one-arm bandit

Examples of one-armed bandit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The other people in Mr. Zafra’s neighborhood bar, a place with one-armed bandit slot machines and a heavily tattooed bartender, thought that breaking away from Spain would lead to economic collapse. Ellen Barry, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'one-armed bandit.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1934, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of one-armed bandit was in 1934

Dictionary Entries Near one-armed bandit

Cite this Entry

“One-armed bandit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one-armed%20bandit. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on one-armed bandit

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!